Movie Website Launches for April 15 - April 21

April 21, 2005

Note: In order to better server our readers, we would like everyone to take part in a poll regarding this column.

During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner, Kicking and Screaming - Official Site.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
New flash site, I think. There's a doorknob that is slowly turning, emphasis on slowly. OK, ten minutes later and nothing is happening. I assume the site is down and will check again later. ... It took nearly twenty minutes to finish loading, but when it finally did the site was superb. The best feature so far is the 360 degree look at some of the characters. There is also a new video clip, but it took so long to download that I gave up. Hopefully next week the traffic will be lower of the server will be better.

The Chumscrubber
New image for the placeholder site.

Crash
The Experience the Film section was added to the site. The section shows you three clips from the film and by dragging descriptive words over the image you create some art.

The Devil's Rejects
The tour of the Firefly House was added to the site, as was the Spaulding's bio. However, like the rest of the bios, I can't be verified.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
No changes since last week.

The Game of Their Lives
The movie opens tomorrow and the Soccer IQ test is still marked coming soon.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Some more video clips were added to the site, including 3 behind the scenes clips on the aliens, the guide and Marvin the Paranoid Android.

House of Wax
The TV spots were added to the site, including one in Spanish.

The Interpreter
No real changes since last week and it's still too slow to have any real impact.

Kicking and Screaming
The flash site launched this week and while there are a couple of regular features marked coming soon (cast & crew bios and production note), most of the extras are on the site. The extras include a penalty shot game (which is well done but too easy, it's more fun to try and hit Will Ferrell in the face), a personality quiz to determine which coach you are more like (Mike Ditka myself), and trading cards of the players, coaches and even the Soccer Moms. Other features that are marked coming soon include TV spots and interviews under the media section. Add in all the audio clips and animation and you have a really fun site (even the loading graphic is top-notch), and easily the winner of the sporting Weekly Website Award.

King's Ransom
The site has most of the usual features plus a bit of style, but it doesn't do a good job of selling the movie. This has a lot to do with the low quality of the movie in question.

Kingdom of Heaven
The Broadband Experience section was added to the site, but it only works on Internet Explorer.

A Lot Like Love
The movie opens tomorrow but the final two features are still marked coming soon.

Mad Hot Ballroom
The flash site launched, but I was a little disappointed. The film is a documentary about a Ballroom Dancing competition so I was expecting more in the way of music and movement. As it is, the site has all the features that most documentary sites have, but it doesn't take enough advantage of its subject to truly stand out.

Madagascar
There were a couple more additions to the site this week. Firstly, the character bios were added to the site, each of them also have audio clips to listen to. Secondly, the trailer for the game was added, but that was definitely less entertaining. That leaves just the clips and the world tour still marked coming soon.

Madison
No real changes since the site first launched.

Me and You and Everyone We Know
Simple site with most of the usual features with the trailer marked coming soon. The most unique feature is a link to Mirada July's Blog.

Rize
The trailer was added to the site and it include a version that you can upload to your PSP.

Rock School
The movie may have been pushed back, but at least the trailer was added to the site.

Serenity
No updates on the main site, but the Browncoats section has been updated to include some features the fans asked for, such as a new voting procedure, ability to save your login, and the ability to search the message board. Speaking of the message board, there's a rather long thread of Browncoats showing off their Cleavage. I for one think this is horribly offe... like your still reading this, you clicked that link so fast it's embarrassing. Other updates include a clip from the Wizard World convention: Quicktime and Windows Media Player.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
Some behind the scenes movie trivia was added to the site.

Tideland
Two more video clips were added to the site, the first on the Costume Set Supervisor and the other on the Bog Man. That makes 18 video clips so far.

War of the Worlds
The survival game was added to the site, sort of. It hung when I tried to register. Went in as a guest and played a dozen times but the game moves too slow to be fun. Also, the survivors you are supposed to rescue have terrible path finding ability. If you can't figure out how to walk around a car you deserve to die.

Wedding Crashers
Either the flash site launched or the placeholder site underwent a re-design, it's hard to tell at this point. The only real content so far is the synopsis, image gallery and the trailer, and without anything marked coming soon it is really hard to judge the site's potential.

Zathura
A game was added to the site. It's a clone of Asteroids, which is probably one of the oldest computer games ever made.


Submitted by:

Filed under: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, War of the Worlds, Wedding Crashers, Madagascar, The Interpreter, Crash, Kicking and Screaming, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, House of Wax, Zathura, Serenity, A Lot Like Love, The Devil’s Rejects, Mad Hot Ballroom, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, King's Ransom, Rize, Madison, The Game of Their Lives, Tideland, Rock School, The Chumscrubber